The Wild Thornberrys Review
by Laura Clifford (laura AT reelingreviews DOT com)December 19th, 2002
THE WILD THORNBERRYS
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When 12 year-old Eliza Thornberry (Lacey Chabert, "Lost In Space") takes three African cheetah cubs outside the boundary set by their mother Akela (Alfre Woodard, "K-PAX"), poachers descend with a helicopter and capture one.
Distraught by what her irresponsibility has wrought, Eliza becomes determined to get the baby back to its mother, but she'll need to circumvent her wildlife documentarian parents, the British boarding school her well-meaning grandparents send her to, and the loss of her special, secret ability to talk to animals in "The Wild Thornberrys."
Nickelodeon makes a third successful gambit into theatrical feature animation with their Genesis award winning television series. This ecologically minded, wildlife friendly film teaches good ethics while entertaining with its unconventionally wacky but loving family.
Eliza, who was gifted with the power to speak to animals when she freed a warthog who was really an enchanted shaman, is the middle child of American camerawoman Marianne (Jodi Carlisle) and British wildlife explorer Nigel (Tim Curry, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show") Thornberry. Her older sister Debbie (Danielle Harris, "Urban Legend") is a valley girl teenager craving malls and boys, her younger brother Donnie (Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers) is an adopted wild child and her best friend is Darwin (Tom Kane, "The Powerpuff Girls"), a chimp. Horrified by the dangerous paths Eliza crosses, veddy British grandmother Thornberry (Lynn Redgrave, "Gods and Monsters") insists on packing her away to Haversham Hall, a traditional English girls' boarding school.
Eliza is thrilled to find that Darwin has stowed away with her, but her snooty roommate is appalled when the chimp borrows her school uniform to dine with Eliza and her classmates. Soon Eliza has managed to make her way back to Africa, where she unsuspectingly crosses paths with the same poachers, Sloan (Rupert Everett, "My Best Friend's Wedding") and Bree (Marisa Tomei, "In the Bedroom") Blackburn, who stole her cub buddy. As Eliza realizes the Blackburns have a nefarious plot to kill one thousand elephants, her family, split into three different groups, converge to rescue her.
Writer Kate Boutilier (story editor and producer of "The Wild Thornberrys" television show) packs multiple story lines into an eighty minute running time, keeping all strands moving entertainingly along until they all tie neatly together. She leaves Africa for a British boarding school sequence that's an entity unto itself without sidelining the main story. As Eliza's adventure progresses, Boutilier maintains equal interest with mom and dad's anxious communiques at the site of the elephant gathering, the grandparents' journey with Donnie in the family's RV home base and Debbie's dirt bike rescue mission. Debbie, who is certainly not a natural in the bush, meets Boko (Obba Babatunde, "John Q"), an African tribesman who joins the fray as her protector (and potential prom date?).
Boutilier also gets all those little character details right. Grandmother Cordelia parachutes into the bush with her bone china teacups. Darwin is only heard talking when the scene is from Eliza's point of view, otherwise he sounds like an ape, as does Eliza.
Made by the successful Klasky Csupo animation company, "The Wild Thornberrys" has the same distinctive look as their "Rugrats" series with meticulously researched exotic locales providing vivid color and natural beauty. Voice casting is outstanding, with Tim Curry's parody of an uppercrust English
clip as Nigel the most inspired among a talented cast. The film's soundtrack features contributions from such luminaries as Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon and West African world music artist Angelique Kidjo. Tom Jones's classic, "She's a Lady," is a comic highlight.
"The Wild Thornberrys" will keep you on the edge of your seat from the moment that little cheetah cub is heartbreakingly airlifted away from its loved ones,
but rest assured Eliza is one determined young lady. This is a solid family entertainment and a potential boon to wildlife causes, a good thing indeed.
B
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